Stockton payroll up but still below crushing '09 levels

Sunday

Aug 10, 2014 at 12:01 AM

STOCKTON - Five years and an eternity ago, Stockton paid out $137.5 million in compensation to its employees, a figure that proved unsustainable as hard times enveloped the city on its way to declaring Chapter 9 bankruptcy in 2012.

Roger Phillips

STOCKTON - Five years and an eternity ago, Stockton paid out $137.5 million in compensation to its employees, a figure that proved unsustainable as hard times enveloped the city on its way to declaring Chapter 9 bankruptcy in 2012.

Those generous days, City Manager Kurt Wilson says, are long gone as the city battles back from insolvency with leaner staffing and a plan to maintain permanent stability.

In 2013, Stockton's payroll stood at $109.2 million, according to data provided in response to a recent California Public Records Act request. That figure is 2 percent higher than the $107 million payroll of 2012, but still more than 20 percent below the 2009 amount.

"We don't have any immediate plans to return to those (staffing) levels," Wilson said, referring to the lofty payroll of 2009. "We're at a point now where we have a much better grasp on what we can actually afford, not just for a short period of time but for the long haul. Our plan is to stay within that."

Former City Manager Bob Deis, who retired late last year, had the highest gross pay of any of the city's roughly 1,300 employees in 2013. He earned $228,000. Police Chief Eric Jones ($210,000) and City Attorney John Luebberke ($201,000) were next.

In 2013, the Stockton Police Department had 131 employees who topped $100,000, but only 24 of those had a six-figure base salary. The other 107 hit $100,000 because of overtime, with Officer Youn Seraypheap nearly doubling his base pay with $62,000 in overtime. Fire Capt. Brad Palmer was the city's biggest overtime earner, supplementing his $91,000 base pay with $85,000 in overtime.

Nearly 81 percent of the city's payroll went to four departments: police ($44 million), fire ($21.2 million), municipal utilities ($12.7 million) and public works ($10.3 million).

In 2009, the Police Department's payroll approached $50 million. Last year, it was $44 million, a figure indicative of the reduced staffing that has stemmed from the city's economic crisis and attrition.

Departures from the Police Department remain a significant problem and contribute to the force's large overtime payout. Though payroll has decreased in the past five years, overtime in 2013 was up roughly $1 million, to nearly $5.6 million.

"We are short-staffed," said Kathryn Nance, president of the Stockton Police Officers' Association. "(Overtime is) how those positions are covered so we don't run too short. We allow officers to come in on their days off to work overtime."

Jones said he expects his department's overall payroll figure to increase in 2014 as the city begins hiring new officers paid for by the three-quarter cent Measure A sales tax approved by voters last year.

None have been hired yet as the police try to reach pre-Measure A budgeted staffing of 365 officers. Jones said the challenge is not in hiring new officers but in keeping current employees. Nance agreed.

"We have a retention issue we have to address," Nance said. "The retention issue has to be addressed by making sure officers are compensated adequately compared to the rest of the county and state. We've had a huge problem with that since the fiscal emergency started, and we're going to have that problem for years to come."

The city and the police union are bargaining over a new contract. The old deal expired June 30. Wilson said the city is studying how it can become more competitive in the police officer hiring market.

"I've been having conversations with a lot of other agencies around the country," Wilson said. "I do think at the end of the day we'll end up in a position that's very strong, but we're going through a process.

"Unfortunately, hiring police officers is one of the slowest processes cities can go through. There's a tremendous responsibility that goes with giving someone the authority that goes with that badge and gun."

In 2009, the Fire Department's payroll was more than $31 million. It was $10 million lower last year, and overtime was down, too, from $4.7 million in 2009 to $2.9 million in 2013.

"Collectively we've been able to stabilize the amount of overtime use," Fire Chief Jeff Piechura said. "In 2013, though we had some significant (fire) events, they weren't major overtime draws. But if one catastrophe occurred or a number of major events occurred, that's why we have our overtime budget set where we can absorb those costs and still remain under budget."

Staffing remains low compared to what it was before the economic collapse, when the Fire Department had 220 uniformed personnel. Piechura said the force is budgeted for 170 this year but had only 157 as of the end of July.

He said he expects the department to fill the 13 vacancies by 2015 but acknowledged that the reduction in staffing in recent years poses difficulties. The department is undergoing a "self-assessment" over the next six to 12 months, Piechura said, to determine how to best adjust to its decreased staffing.

"From that assessment we will be able to create an analysis to show the City Council what we need to do short-term, midterm and long-term to redefine our service model to the city," Piechura said. "We realize we can't have the same funding from pre-recession, so how are we going to provide a new model of service to the city within the economic reality we have today?"

It's a question Wilson and other city officials grapple with on an ongoing basis amid a more stringent economic reality. Stockton remains in Chapter 9, awaiting an October ruling by federal Judge Christopher Klein that officials hope will lift the city from bankruptcy. Wilson said major increases in staffing and the size of the payroll are unlikely in the years to come.

"In the years leading up to bankruptcy and the early part of bankruptcy, we were in a state of much more flux," Wilson said. "The plan has always been to get to a stable place. It's really disruptive to the organization to have major flux. We do anticipate having a pretty steady payroll going forward."

Contact reporter Roger Phillips at (209) 546-8299 or rphillips@recordnet.com. Follow him at recordnet.com/phillipsblog and on Twitter @rphillipsblog.